Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon is facing blowback from a Republican colleague after he advocated for reducing his state's carbon emissions.
Gordon made the comments while discussing his Decarbonizing the West initiative at a JFK Jr. Forum event at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics on Monday evening.
Gordon, who was elected in 2018, has made reaching negative carbon emissions a top goal in his administration. Rather than jump ship with President Joe Biden, Gordon has criticized Biden's green energy transition. Instead of halting the use of fossil fuels, Gordon advocates for capturing the emissions by using strategies like capture, utilization and storage technologies, according to Decarbonizing the West's website.
"It is clear that we have a warming climate," Gordon said at the event according to a report by The Harvard Crimson. "It is clear that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to that challenge. There is an urgency to addressing this issue.
"Wyoming is the first that has said that we will be carbon negative," he added, before advocating for new carbon capture technologies, forest management and other initiatives as being on "the entire spectrum of things that we can do to produce reliable, dispatchable energy that people require and need at affordable costs."
Wyoming state Rep. John Bear, also a Republican, bristled and told Fox News Digital that he was embarrassed by Gordon's comments. He also slammed the governor's willingness to speak at Harvard University, which has faced blowback regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
""Frankly, I was embarrassed," Bear said in the report. "I was embarrassed that our chief executive would go to a pro-Hamas, pro-China school and appease an anti-fossil fuel crowd.
"I was embarrassed that someone who campaigned as a conservative is ready to close the coffin on coal, oil and gas in his state. He has given in to the AOC (Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and Al Gore hysteria that is, in fact, disputed science.
"At a time when Western governors should be embracing the idea of energy independence and pushing back on the anti-American, Biden agenda, I think he should be taking us a different direction," Bear continued.
"We can't afford to give an inch to the anti-fossil fuel crowd and their utopian view of green energy. Mark Gordon needs to explain to the people of Wyoming why he's selling our economy and our livelihoods down the liberal river."
Gordon has, however, previously pushed back against Biden and the president's focus on transitioning to green energy. Other states have followed Biden's lead and implemented legislation to offset the negative impacts of climate change, but the Wyoming governor has long advocated for utilizing carbon capture technologies to reduce the state's carbon emissions rather than switching the state over to green energy as its sole source.
Michael Pearlman, Gordon's communications director, told Newsweek in a statement that Gordon has advocated for the use of technology to keep fossil fuels viable since his 2019 State of the State address. The governor received the invite to speak at Harvard four months ago.
"The Governor has been committed to protecting Wyoming's core fossil fuel industries and tackling climate issues since the beginning of his administration," the statement said.
"He has continually promoted policies and litigation targeted at keeping the fossil fuel industry meaningful and viable. A part of the honest discussion led by Governor Gordon is that we cannot ignore what policies are being made in Washington, nor can we ignore that many in Washington who work every day to see that fossil fuels are shut down.
"Governor Gordon took that honest discussion directly to those who are most opposed to fossil fuels. Instead of being attacked with half-truths and rhetoric, the Governor should be praised for having the courage to do so."
Wyoming has relied overwhelmingly on fossil fuels and remains one of the top coal-producing and crude-oil producing states. Last year, coal power plants provided nearly three-quarters of Wyoming's electricity with natural gas fueling 3.6 percent of the state's power, according to the Fox report. Nearly a quarter of the state's electricity was supplied by renewable energy sources.
Update 10/27/2023, 10:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comment from Michael Pearlman.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
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